Extensible Interface for Synchronous and Asynchronous Payment

ABSTRACT

An applications programming interface (API) or other interface may be configured for use with a plurality of e-commerce applications and/or a plurality of payment systems. The API may be associated with an operating system of a client or may be otherwise located in an e-commerce system or network. The API may receive a call regarding a purchase transaction. The purchase transaction may be examined to determine if a payment method is synchronous or asynchronous. An appropriate payment system may be activated to perform the purchase transaction based at least in part on the determination made by the examination of the purchase transaction. A result of the purchase transaction may be sent to the e-commerce program. By revision of the API, developers of e-commerce applications are freed from the burden of revising code in response to the need to utilize additional or differently operated payment systems.

BACKGROUND

Many payment systems are available for use by customers of onlineretailers. The payment systems include those that use credit cards andothers that perform secure payment moving money from one party (e.g., apurchaser) to another party (e.g., a vendor). However, as more paymentsystems become available, differences between such systems result indifficulty for developers, and the need to change code within theire-commerce applications. One difficulty faced by developers is the needto code for both synchronous and asynchronous payment systems.Accordingly, application development and maintenance is made moredifficult as the number of payment systems grows. Moreover, applicationsthat fail to overcome such difficulties in a timely manner fail tosatisfy users' expectations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanyingfigures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference numberidentifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. Thesame numbers are used throughout the drawings to reference like featuresand components. Moreover, the figures are intended to illustrate generalconcepts, and not to indicate required and/or necessary elements.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a system for performinge-commerce payments, including example detail of a client operating ane-commerce application.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a system for performinge-commerce payments, including example detail of a commerce platform anddetail of client operation in performing an asynchronous payment.

FIG. 3 is a timing and event diagram showing example of aspects of bothsynchronous and asynchronous transactions.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram showing an example method to perform ane-commerce payment.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram showing an example method to perform anasynchronous payment after failure of a synchronous payment.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram showing an example method to extend a number ofpayment systems available to e-commerce applications.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram showing an example method to perform cleanup inthe event of an e-commerce payment failure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Overview

The disclosure describes techniques by which an e-commerce applicationmay make payments in a plurality of markets, using a plurality ofpayment systems, and/or according to a plurality of different paymentmethods. In one example, the techniques are performed by an interface,such as an application programming interface (API) utilized by anoperating system on which an e-commerce application may be operating.The API may be made available to developers of such e-commerceapplications.

The API may significantly reduce the burden on the developers ofe-commerce applications, such as burdens associated with adapting toadditional payment systems. In one example, periodic enhancements to theAPI to accommodate additional payment systems and methods may beperformed, thereby avoiding the need for changes to the e-commerceapplications.

The techniques provide for transactions that may be either synchronousor asynchronous. In a synchronous payment method, such as most creditcard payments (e.g., those without a secondary authentication (e.g.,Verified by Visa®)), the payment and title to the goods and/or servicesare synchronously exchanged, such as by completion of a credit cardcharge. Examples of credit cards include VISA®, American Express® andothers. In an asynchronous payment method, such as a bank transfer,intermediate steps are required to perform the transfer. Suchintermediate steps may include having the user log into a website of theasynchronous payment system and provide password(s) and/or otherinformation. Allpay® and other payment systems that require secondaryuser step(s) are examples of asynchronous payment systems.

While certain aspects of synchronous credit card transactions are known,an interface that may be utilized to seamlessly perform both synchronousand asynchronous transactions and which may be expanded to utilize newe-commerce payment systems without requiring changes to e-commerceapplications, has not previously been known.

In one example, when a user makes an in-application purchase using anasynchronous payment method, the e-commerce application running on acomputing device may call the API. The API may be part of, or associatedwith, the operating system of the client device. The API may redirectthe user to a webpage associated with the asynchronous payment systemwhile leaving a modal dialog (e.g., dialog box or related graphical userinterface element or object) on the application. Thus, a result is notimmediately returned to the e-commerce application. This performanceappears to the e-commerce application to be similar to a synchronouscredit card transaction, wherein the application receives a result onlywhen the purchase dialog closes. As the user is redirected to thewebpage, the “store” with which the e-commerce application iscommunicating has a record of the pending purchase. Additionally, acommerce platform may also receive a record of the pending purchase. Thecommerce platform may comprise a plurality of servers that supporttransactions performed by the operating system of the computing deviceof the user and a plurality of e-commerce payment systems. In oneexample, the commerce platform handles aspects of the transactionbetween the e-commerce application and a vendor while the e-commerceapplication on the client device waits.

The user may complete entry of payment information into the webpageassociated with the asynchronous payment system. Upon receipt of thisinformation by the asynchronous payment system, the webpage is removedand the user returns to the e-commerce application. The user thenselects “continue” or similar on the modal dialog box. This signals apurchase process operating on the e-commerce store to poll the commerceplatform for a status of the asynchronous purchase record. The pollingcontinues as the commerce platform works with the asynchronous paymentsystem to resolve the payment.

The e-commerce application attempts to keep the user from leaving thepurchase process until there is a success or failure of the purchaseprocess. Upon receipt of a success or failure state, the API transmitsthe state to the e-commerce application. A pending state, which mayrepresent the processing of a payment in an asynchronous payment method,is not returned by the API. Accordingly, the API may provide aconsistent result to the e-commerce application for both synchronous andasynchronous transactions.

If the user leaves the transaction (e.g., turns off the user's computingdevice or closes the e-commerce application) a cleanup job is run todetermine a final status of the transaction. If the user tries topurchase the item again, prior to the cleanup job, the commerce platformis polled to determine a current status of the purchase, which isreturned to the e-commerce application.

Example System and Techniques

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a system 100 for performinge-commerce payments. A client device 102 may be a laptop, tablet, smartphone, or any mobile and/or desktop computing device. The client device102 may assist a user operating the client device to purchase goodsand/or services from one or more vendors 104. The purchase transactionmay be performed using a payment system 106, and may be assisted by acommerce platform 108.

In the example of FIG. 1, the client device 102 may be in communicationwith one or more of the vendor(s) 104, payment system(s) 106 and/orcommerce platform 108. The vendor(s) 104 may be any “store” or vendorconfigured to sell products and/or services, such as by using a websiteor other e-commerce techniques. Examples of such vendors include thoseselling books, electronics, tickets, game-level products and/orservices, in-app purchases, on-line content, travel accommodations, etc.The payment system(s) 106 may be any third party (i.e., not thepurchaser and not the vendor) system that is configured for performingand/or assisting in e-commerce payments. Such payments may besynchronous (i.e., using credit cards) or asynchronous (e.g., using banktransfer techniques). The client 102 may include a processing unit 110,which may include one or more processors 112 and memory 114. Anoperating system 116 may provide functionality to one or moreapplications, such as an e-commerce application 118. The e-commerceapplication 118 may be configured to assist the user of the clientdevice 102 to purchase goods or services from the vendor(s) 104. Toassist in purchase transactions, the e-commerce application 118 may makecalls to the operating system 116, including an application programminginterface (API) 120. In one example, the API 120 is configured for usewith either synchronous or asynchronous payment systems. In a furtherexample, the API 120 is configured for expansion or extension to workwith a new and/or additional payment system (of synchronous orasynchronous type) without a change to an interface called by thee-commerce application 118 that would cause recoding and/or redesign ofthat application.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing another view and further example techniquesof the system 100 for performing e-commerce payments. The view of FIG. 2shows example detail of the commerce platform 108 and detail ofoperation of the client device 102 in the performance an asynchronouspayment.

The commerce platform 108 of FIG. 2 is representative of third partyservices with which the example application programming interface (API)120 (shown in FIG. 1) of the client device 102 may communicate in thecourse of an e-commerce transaction. In one example, the commerceplatform 108 is configured to assist certain devices (e.g., those havingthe Windows® operating system) to make e-commerce transactions. FIG. 2shows example structures of the commerce platform 108, which may bealtered to fit the needs of any particular system within which thecommerce platform is configured to operate. In the example shown, thecommerce platform 108 includes a commerce web service 200, a paymentcollection service 202, commerce settings 204, a commercial transactionlicense 206 and/or a cleanup pipeline 208.

The commerce web service 200 may be configured to receive an initialcall from the API 120 of the client 102 and to communicate with one ormore of a plurality of payment systems 106. The payment collectionservice 202 may be configured to provide a user interface to the client,and in some instances to “wrap” a user interface of a payment system 106to allow a user to enter payment information while still remainingwithin the environment of the commerce platform 108. The commercesettings 204 may include a repository of settings, which may allow thecommerce platform to operate seamlessly with a plurality of differentthird party payment systems 106. The commerce transaction license 206may be configured as a data file, database, or other data structure, andmay be configured to record and/or indicate award of a license ofownership to the user after a successful e-commerce transaction. Thecleanup pipeline and/or procedure 208 may be configured to handleincomplete transactions, such as if the user leaves the e-commerceapplication 118 prior to conclusion of the e-commerce transaction or ifthe user turns off the client device prior to the conclusion.

FIG. 2 shows on example of how a user interface, directed at least inpart by the API 120 and/or the commerce platform 108, may “wrap” orotherwise manage a user interface configured at least in part by apayment system. In the example shown, the payment collection service(PCS) 202 has created a webpage 210 in response to the call from the API120. The payment collection webpage 210 has wrapped a webpage 212presented by the payment system 106. In a more general example, genericuser interface elements may be used to provide the user with anexperience including redirection to a webpage of a payment systemwithout integration and/or contact between the application and thepayment system. The redirection may be to a bank fortransaction/purchase approval and/or to a website for approval. Thegeneric user interface elements may be provided by the API, which may beextensible for interaction with other banks, websites and/or paymentsystems. Accordingly, the API 120 and/or the commerce platform 108 mayexert some control over the experience of the user of the client 102. Inoperation, the user may enter information requested by the webpage 212for transmission to the third party payment system 106.

FIG. 3 is a timing and event diagram showing an example transaction 300.The activities shown in the example transaction 300 may be performed onthe client device 102 and on the commerce platform 108. Activities shownas performed on the client device 102 may be performed on the e-commerceapplication 118. Moreover, the activities shown as performed on thecommerce platform 108 for example only, and the activities could beperformed in other locations within a system 100 (such as that shown inthe example of FIG. 1). The example transaction 300 shows techniquesutilized by both synchronous and asynchronous payment systems, and showshow failure or error in performing a synchronous transaction may resultin an attempt to perform an asynchronous transaction.

In the example of FIG. 3, the activities performed on the commerceplatform 108 may be performed by use of the commerce web service 200, apending record 302, the payment collection service (PCS) 202 and/or acommerce transaction license 206. The pending record 302 may be a datastructure maintained on the commerce platform 108, for example. At theclient device 102, an e-commerce application (e.g., e-commerceapplication 118 of FIG. 1) may operate to assist a user in making ane-commerce purchase on a website.

The “calculate final price event” 304 is a specific example of atransaction that may be initiated by a call to the commerce web service200 by the e-commerce application 118 on the client device 102. At thispoint, goods and/or services may have been loaded into a “shopping cart”or other device or technique for purchase. The e-commerce application118 may call to the operating system (e.g., operating system 116 ofFIG. 1) such as by making a call to a “calculate final price” procedureor similar. In the example shown, a “no account exception” may bereturned, which may provide the client device a uniform resource locator(URL, i.e., webpage address). Use of the URL may be used to establish apayment method and/or payment collection service.

At “select payment method event” 306, the URL is utilized to contact apayment service, such as by operation of the payment collection service202. Such a payment service may be associated with a credit card, moneytransfer system or other payment service. The service returnsinformation to the e-commerce application 118 running on the clientdevice 102, such as an account ID, a personal identification number,password, and/or other identifier.

At “add payment account event” 308, an account may be added for the userif an account was not identified by the “select payment method event”306. In the example of FIG. 3, this action may be performed at least inpart by the payment collection service 202. In one example, a “getaccount event” 310 sets up and returns an account. This action may berecorded in the commerce transaction license 206. A “get instrumentsevent” 312 obtains documents and/or data, etc., that is required to makethe purchase.

At “calculate final price event” 314, a final price of the purchase iscalculated by a call to the commerce web service 200. In one example, a“purchase event” 316 may return a value of success or failure to thecommerce web service 200.

At a “confirm purchase event” 318, the purchase may be confirmed. At“create record event” 320, a pending record is created. Such a recordassists in scheduling the transaction and preventing its loss. At a“purchase event” 322 a status of the purchase transaction is returned.If the purchase is a synchronous credit card transaction, the status maybe “completed.” However, if the transaction is an asynchronous moneytransfer, a pending status may be returned. At “record update event”324, a pending record is set to resume the purchase transaction. In theevent of an error, it may be necessary to perform an asynchronoustransaction.

At “load PCS page event” 326, payment collection webpage is loaded. Inone example, a payment collection service page 212 (an example of whichis shown in FIG. 2) may be provided by the payment collection service202 to wrap a webpage of a third party payment service, which maycomprise an asynchronous money transfer service.

At “resume purchase event” 328, the purchase is resumed, in the event ofa failure at confirm purchase event 318. At “find pending record event”330, the pending purchase record is found. The purchase record may havebeen created at “create record event” 320, as noted above. At “pollingevent” 332, the commerce platform 108 may respond to polls from thevendor or store, wherein the polling requests information about a statusof the purchase. At “mark record as success event” 334, the record 302is marked to indicate success or failure of the asynchronous paymentprocess.

Example Methods

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram showing an example payment method 400 toperform an e-commerce payment. At operation 402, an interface may beexposed to allow it to be called by applications. In the example of FIG.1, the applications programming interface (API) 120 is exposed to allowcalls by the operating system 116.

At operation 404, a call is received at the interface regarding apurchase transaction from an e-commerce application. In the example ofFIG. 1, the e-commerce application 118 calls the API 120 in the courseof performing an e-commerce transaction.

At operation 406, the purchase transaction is examined to determine ifan associated payment method is synchronous or asynchronous. In oneexample, the payment system and/or provider may provide an indication ofwhether the transaction is synchronous or asynchronous, thereby allowingthe transaction to be handled appropriately. In different examplesystems, an examination of the transaction may be performed by the API120 or by the commerce platform 108 to reveal if the purchasetransaction is synchronous or asynchronous. In the example of FIG. 3,the “confirm purchase event” 318 may return an error, indicating that asynchronous payment method has failed, and that the payment method maybe asynchronous.

At operation 408, a payment system is contacted. Communication with thepayment system may result in performance of the purchase transaction.The purchase transaction may be based at least in part on thedetermination, at operation 406, distinguishing between synchronous andasynchronous payment methods.

At operation 410, a result of the purchase transaction is provided tothe e-commerce application.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram showing an example error handling method 500 toperform an asynchronous payment after failure of a synchronous payment.At operation 502, a message (e.g., an error message) is receivedindicating failure of a transaction. The error may be due to aninability of a system to process a purchase transaction as a synchronouspurchase transaction. In the example of FIG. 3, an error may be returnedby the “confirm purchase event” 318, indicating an error due to anasynchronous payment system.

At operation 504, the payment system may be determined to beasynchronous. Asynchronous payment systems may be based on multi-stepmoney transfer systems. In one non-limiting example, such paymentsystems may include those having similarity to Verified by Visa, etc. Insuch an example, credit cards, which are normally synchronous, may beflagged to need extra authentication, thereby becoming asynchronous.

In an example shown by operation 506, a user interface may be providedto allow the user to communicate with a payment site associated with theasynchronous payment method. In the example of FIG. 2, the paymentcollection webpage 210 of the payment collection service (PCS) 202 haswrapped a webpage 212 presented by the payment system 106.

At operation 508, a webpage associated with an asynchronous paymentsystem is wrapped within a user interface, which may be provided by API120. In the example of FIG. 3, at “load PCS page event” 326 the paymentcollection service webpage 212 from a vendor 104 is wrapped by thepayment collection webpage 210, which may be provided by the commerceplatform or the API 120.

At operation 510, operation of the user interface may collect data foruse by the asynchronous payment system. The data may include user namesand/or passwords to allow a money transfer from one or more accountsassociated with the asynchronous payment system (e.g., one or more bankaccounts used by the asynchronous system).

At operation 512, a user-facing dialog box may be provided by the API120 until the transaction is completed. The dialog box may assist byapproximating the experience the user would have during a synchronouspayment process during the current asynchronous process. The dialog boxmay be any persistent user interface element that prevents userinteraction with other portions of the application until the user hastaken action on the dialog box itself In such an example, the dialog boxor other user interface element persists until the user hits a“continue” or similar button. At that point, if the transaction is stillpending, the dialog box may be changed to encourage the user to “tryagain” or “close” the dialog box, thereby ending the transaction withfailure.

At operation 514, a result of success of failure may be returned to thee-commerce application. In the example of FIG. 3, the “mark record assuccess event” 334 may provide such a result to the e-commerceapplication.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram showing an example extensibility method 600 toextend a number of payment systems available to e-commerce applications.At operation 602, a number of payment systems for which the interface(e.g., API 120 of FIG. 1) is configured to handle purchase transactionsis extended and/or increased. For example, as new payment systems,either synchronous or asynchronous, are introduced and/or incorporatedfor use, the API 120 may be extended to operate with each of them. Thus,the extension of the API may include additional executable statements tohandle operation with each of the new payment systems.

At operation 604, a format, protocol, etc., of calls to the interfacemay be maintained in an unchanged manner after the extension. Thus, thesame calls by the e-commerce application 118 to the API 120 may be usedin an unchanged manner after the extension, while new calls mayadditionally be available.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram showing an example cleanup method 700 toperform cleanup in the event of an e-commerce payment failure. Atoperation 702, an exit by a user of an e-commerce application may bedetected. For example, the user may exit the e-commerce application ormay turn off the client device. This may leave any transaction in astate of uncertainty.

At operation 704, a cleanup of the purchase transaction is performed.The cleanup may determine if a license has been granted to the user, andmay return a status of the purchase transaction to the e-commerceapplication.

As used herein, “computer-readable media” includes computer storagemedia and communication media. Computer storage media includes volatileand non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in anymethod or technology for storage of information, such ascomputer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, orother data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to,random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), electricallyerasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory or other memorytechnology, compact disk ROM (CD-ROM), digital versatile disks (DVD) orother optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic diskstorage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that canbe used to store information for access by a computing device. Incontrast, communication media may embody computer-readable instructions,data structures, program modules, or other data that is defined in amodulated data signal, such as in conjunction with a carrier wave. Asdefined herein, computer storage media does not include communicationmedia.

CONCLUSION

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the subject matter defined in the appended claims is notnecessarily limited to the specific features or acts described. Rather,the specific features and acts are disclosed as exemplary forms ofimplementing the claims

What is claimed is:
 1. One or more computer-readable media storingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or moreprocessors to perform acts comprising: exposing an interface, configuredfor communication with a plurality of payment systems, to calls by ane-commerce application; receiving a call at the interface regarding apurchase transaction; examining the purchase transaction to determine ifa payment method is synchronous or asynchronous; communicating with apayment system to perform the purchase transaction based at least inpart on the determination made by the examination of the purchasetransaction; and providing a result of the purchase transaction to thee-commerce application.
 2. One or more computer-readable media asrecited in claim 1, additionally comprising: providing a user interfaceto a user of the e-commerce application; and collecting data byoperation of the user interface for use by an asynchronous paymentsystem.
 3. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 1,additionally comprising: determining that the payment method isasynchronous; and providing a user interface to a user of the e-commerceapplication, wherein the user interface is configured to wrap a webpagefrom a payment site associated with the asynchronous payment method. 4.One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, additionallycomprising: providing a user interface to a user of the e-commerceapplication to allow the user to communicate with a payment siteassociated with the asynchronous payment method; and providing a userinterface element configured to occupy the user while a store poles acommerce platform to determine if a result is success or failure.
 5. Oneor more computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein exposingthe interface comprises exposing the interface by: a softwaredevelopment kit; an operating system of a computing device; a commerceplatform; a cloud service environment; and a website.
 6. One or morecomputer-readable media as recited in claim 1, additionally comprising:extending a number of payment systems for which the interface isconfigured to handle purchase transactions; wherein a format of calls tothe interface is unchanged after the extending.
 7. One or morecomputer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein: the interface isextensible to allow expansion of a number of asynchronous paymentmethods and a number of synchronous payment methods; and the interfaceis configured to maintain an unchanged appearance to the e-commerceapplication after expansion.
 8. One or more computer-readable media asrecited in claim 1, wherein exposing the interface comprises exposing aconsistent interface for purchase transactions utilizing any of aplurality of payment systems, including synchronous and asynchronouspayment systems.
 9. One or more computer-readable media as recited inclaim 1, additionally comprising: providing a user-facing dialog boxuntil an asynchronous transaction is completed.
 10. One or morecomputer-readable media as recited in claim 1, additionally comprising:receiving an error message due to an attempt to process the purchasetransaction incorrectly as a synchronous purchase transaction; andproviding a webpage associated with an asynchronous payment system to auser of the e-commerce application, wherein the webpage is wrapped by awebpage of the interface.
 11. One or more computer-readable media asrecited in claim 1, additionally comprising: detecting an exit by a userof the e-commerce application from which the call to the interface wasreceived; and performing cleanup of the purchase transaction, includingdetermining if a license is granted to the user and returning status ofthe purchase transaction to the e-commerce application.
 12. A method,comprising: under control of one or more processors configured withexecutable instructions: receiving a call regarding a purchasetransaction from an e-commerce application, the call received at aninterface configured for communication with a plurality of paymentsystems; examining the purchase transaction to determine a paymentsystem that is indicated; communicating with the payment system toprovide information required by the payment system; and providing aresult of the purchase transaction, received from the payment system, tothe e-commerce application.
 13. The method as recited in claim 12,additionally comprising: wrapping a user interface of a payment systemwithin a consumer-facing user interface; and providing a dialog boxconfigured to occupy the user as payment is completed.
 14. The method asrecited in claim 12, additionally comprising: distinguishing anasynchronous payment system from payment systems including synchronouspayment systems; and providing a user interface to a user of thee-commerce application, wherein the user interface is configured to wrapa webpage of the asynchronous payment system.
 15. The method as recitedin claim 12, additionally comprising: recognizing that a payment siteindicated by the call is associated with an asynchronous payment method;and providing a result to the e-commerce application indicating one ofsuccess or failure.
 16. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein: anumber of payment systems for which the interface is configured tohandle purchase transactions is extended; and a format of calls to theinterface is unchanged after the extending.
 17. The method as recited inclaim 12, wherein: communicating with the payment system comprisescommunicating with a procedure extensible to allow communication withadditional payment systems; and the interface, after extension of theprocedure to communicate with the additional payment systems, remainsunchanged to existing e-commerce applications.
 18. The method as recitedin claim 12, additionally comprising: persisting a user-facing dialogbox until an asynchronous transaction is completed.
 19. A system,comprising: a commerce platform server to contact one of a plurality ofpayment systems depending on a type of transaction; and an interface, incommunication with the commerce platform server and an e-commerceprogram, the interface configured to: receive a call regarding apurchase transaction from the e-commerce program; examine the purchasetransaction to determine if a payment system indicated by the purchasetransaction is synchronous or asynchronous; provide a user interface toa user of the e-commerce program based at least in part on theexamination; collect data by operation of the user interface for use bya payment system indicated by the call; communicate with the paymentsystem to perform the purchase transaction; and provide a result of thepurchase transaction to the e-commerce program.
 20. The system of claim19, wherein: the interface is extensible to allow expansion in a numberof asynchronous payment methods and a number of synchronous paymentmethods; and the interface is configured to maintain an unchangedappearance to the e-commerce program after the expansion.